Innovating your way out of a job

So I was hoping to make a quick post about some things safety related, however on logging into blogger they have again changed the interface that completely interferes with my ability to get to, quickly post, proof-read and enjoy the whole act of actually keeping a blog. Oh yea, and apparently my browser is no longer supported, so that means I need to update to google chrome.

Unfortunately, I only have two middle fingers, but for now they are both raised to you google. Posting a blog does not need ajax, java, or any of the other web 1000.0 crap that has gone so far to complicate and confuse the user experience of casual web users.

So the ammoblog will be migrating to a new home. Not sure where yet, I think I will probably do what I keep threatening to, and finish my own damn blog software that will have the most awesome feature-set ever, including spell-check, and pretty much that's it.

Dear Google/blogger,

Take the f'ing hint.

-Drew

Try Try Again! (Controlling Quality)

Quality Control is the topic of the next series of articles I have chosen to tackle, think of this installment as an overview.

What do ammunition, condom, and medical device manufacturers all have in common? They only have one chance to get it right. When they don't, everyone knows about it. This is why ammunition manufacturers should take more than a few lessons from the other two: test, retest, and test again. But when you have only one chance to get it right, how do you identify problems?

Manufacturing is a process, and the more the process is homogenized, the more homogenous the end-product will be. In the case of ammo, the refinement of the process must extend not only to the end-product, but to all of the feed stocks going in.

I talked previously about load development and how important it is to producing quality ammunition, well, when someone changes something it's important you find out about it before your customer does.

The most important aspect of all ammunition is that it does the exact same thing every time. Anyone with a background in statistics, a knowledge of chemistry, physics, or simply a bit of experience will tell you that's nearly impossible so we have to develop a set of tolerances that meet our expectations.

When it comes to ammunition what are the important factors that determine quality? For the average Joe, this usually means, it fits in the right gun, it feeds through the magazine, it does not blow up the gun, is accurate, and goes off every time. But what are the factors that control this? To address them as a list:

Ammunition Fits in the gun making sure ammunition fits in the gun has three critical factors case dimension, bullet geometry/seating depth, and primer seating depth. The easiest way to find out if any of these issues are present is to use a cartridge chamber gauge. These are different from most "case gauges" in that they are typically cut to precise chamber dimensions, usually with a chamber reamer from either a piece of barrel stock, or stock bored to correct dimensions. Any protrusion of the cartridge from the gauge will denote the first two problems, a simple "feel" test will typically identify high primers, and if need be a depth gauge can be used.

Ammunition feeds through magazines the number one issue here is bullet geometry and seating depth. Certain bullets due to their geometry simply will not feed in certain guns. A key example of this is Keith Nose Semi-Wadcutters, they feed very well through 1911 pattern guns, but typically do not feed reliably in newer guns such as Glocks and Springfield XDs. The best way to address this issue is through direct firing tests. Also, seating depth plays an important role here as rounds that are over max-OAL may not fit in the magazine, or may bind as they stack jamming cartridges in the magazine. Maintaining a proper OAL and proper testing are the best ways to identify these problems.

Does not blow up gun avoiding a dangerous situation such as this is mostly a matter of attention to detail when loading cartridges, making sure the correct amount of the right powder goes into the cartridge is the most important way to avoid an explosion that will damage the firearm and possibly the shooter too. Pressure testing ammunition when powder or primer lots change can be a very important step in large manufacturing environments to ensure the load recipe is safe.

Accuracy is a function of consistency, which is where this is best addressed, making sure loading machinery delivers a consistent charge, the bullets are all of a similar weight, similar diameter, and uniform dimensions, and the primers deliver a similar spark are all factors that determine how consistent your ammunition will be from round to round. Occasionally there are bad combinations, that no matter how hard you try, never deliver consistent performance, but that should have been taken care of during the load development stage. Checking lot consistency is best performed with firing tests.

Reliability is making sure rounds go off every time they are prompted to do so, like many other gremlins, this one is best identified by lot-testing. Typically, when a problem like this creeps up it is either due to a dirty machine not dispensing powder the way it should or the primer not performing it's task. In general, these failures are nearly always the result of contamination or manufacturing defects. Primers not properly charged with a styphnate pellet, dried incompletely, or contaminated with oil (this can happen after manufacture as well). Typically charging issues are related to oil or grease contamination in the dispensing mechanism, or can occasionally be related to settling and bridging if the machine is idled for any length of time.

The main point that should be taken away from this: Test, take corrective action, repeat.

The next article will get in-depth on Dimensional Issues (Making sure cartridges fit).

The Success of Open Standards - 300 AAC Blackout vs 300 Whisper

For those that spend a lot of time paying attention to developments in firearms technology, and have done so for any length of time, it's always interesting when new cartridges come out. What is more interesting is when these new cartridges become run-away successes. Such is the case of the .300 AAC Blackout cartridge.

While an in-depth discussion of the history of the 300 BLK as it's known officially is splattered all over the web, there is at least one point that gets completely lost: what about 300 Whisper?

If you don't know, 300 Whisper is the brain child of JD Jones of SSK Industries fame, arguably one of the most prolific and interesting cartridge designers of late. JDJ (his initials, but also a common suffix to cartridges he's created) has necked up/down just about every cartridge in regular commerce, his cartridges cover everything from .20" caliber through .950" caliber.

With that kind of track record, why is there are 300 BLK?

To draw attention the relevant history of the 300 BLK, Freedom Group went on a buying spree not too long ago, buying Remington, Mossberg, Barnes, AAC, Para, Bushmaster, DPMS and a few dozen others. They are a manufacturing conglomerate the firearms industry barely recognizes outside military circles. Why exactly they put development dollars into developing a new cartridge I can only guess, but AAC being a principle part of the development and having suppressors as a principle product, the 300 BLK was a natural fit for such investment.

Freedom group did something interesting after spending all that money, they published standards for the cartridge and then proceeded to make arms and ammunition in quantities that made it affordable for everyone, in very stark contrast to the business practices of SSK Industries.

At this point, most commercial barrels that are chambered for the 300 BLK will also accept 300 Whisper, the reverse is likely not true, however, as 300 Whisper is a wildcat cartridge it has no official standing with SAAMI, and is not included in the "unsafe cartridge combinations list".

It will be interesting to see if there is any further development or standardization of 300 Whisper, but this is a key example of the fundamental tenets of business. That being: There are three ways to make money at manufacturing, you can make something cheaper than everyone else, you can make something better than everyone else, or you can make something no one else does. It seems under the circumstances Freedom Group has changed the paradigm somewhat, you can make something cheaper and better than someone else when everyone makes it!

Shotgun Recipes - Load Data

To people familiar with metallic cartridge reloading, any foray into loading shotgun can be a confusing experience. Most loading manuals endorse strict adherence to the recipe threatening dangerous and dire consequences will be the result of any variation. Yet they never explain why.

If you have ever wondered why, this post will attempt to explain the science of shotgun shells. But first, lets become familiar with the components that make up a shotgun shell. In comparison to most centerfire cartridges with shotgun shells the only component visible is the hull or shell casing, whereas a metallic cartridge you will see the bullet sticking out from the case. While this may seem confusing, there is a huge benefit, as many shotgun hulls are made of transparent plastic allowing the internal components to be viewed without the shell being cross sectioned. As is shown:

So an explanation of the components. From left to right, the brass colored section at the rear is called the base, which includes the extraction rim. The next visible component is the powder, the dark stuff viewable just in front of the base through the plastic body. Next is a concave cup that provides a gas seal, in front of that is the wadding, followed by the shot, and then the hull is crimped at the front to close it and keep the shot in. With this in mind, a discussion of each feature in descending order of importance.

Crimp

Shotshell crimps come in several varieties, the 6 and 8 point crimps are by far the most common these days, the difference in each is mostly determined by the preference of the manufacturer, cheap disposable single use shells most commonly have the 6 point crimp, and more durable reloadable hulls utilize the 8-point type. Two other types that have been common over the years are the over-shot card, which is most commonly used on buckshot loads. An example is shown here:

The other crimp, which is performed in a similar method to the over-shot card is that used on shotgun slugs. In this case the overshot card is simply omitted and the shell casing is roll crimped around the slug.

Roll crimping is performed using a roll crimping machine, or tool which rotates against the leading edge of the shell, forcing the rim to be rolled over, and will continue rolling the front down until it encounters the card or a slug. There are several sources for roll crimping tools. Ballistic Products manufactures a series of roll crimping tools for every common gauge of shotshell. The alternative is an antique roll crimping tool made by Ideal (now lyman), I couldn't find a convenient picture.

Crimp is one of the two most important features of any shotgun shell, because the type, length and geometry of the crimp determine the internal capacity of a closed shotgun shell. Folded multipoint crimps are the most restrictive in terms of internal volume and do not allow for much tolerance in terms of internal volume, a large shot, powder charge, and long wad selection will result in a recipe that will simply not stuff into the internal volume of the shotgun shell. This typically will result in the crimp bursting and all the shot coming out during handling. The inverse is also true, a reduction in shot, powder, or wad length will allow the crimp petals to cave inwards, again allowing the shot to spill out. In a certain sense, this is a good thing as it makes detecting rounds with an inadequate powder charge easy to pick out from properly loaded shells.

Roll type crimps (either for slugs, or for over-shot cards) are the most tolerant, but are only appropriate on shells that have been roll-crimped before, or new shells. Generally, the roll crimping process is not kind to plastic shells, and they are unlikely to survive more than one or two goes, paper shells tend to be more durable in this respect. That said, the advantage to a roll crimp is the internal capacity can vary more as the crimping process is not as rigid because the shell only needs to be able to fold back into itself to retain the components, it does not have to fold exactly closed.

Wad Selection

The modern plastic molded shotgun wad is arguably one of the most important developments for shotguns ever. To make a comparison to metallic rifle ammunition, the plastic wad is to the shotshell what boat-tail spitzer bullets are to modern rifle ammunition. Choosing the right wad is like choosing the right bullet if all other components are the same. With this in mind why is it so important? The picture shown here is a Claybuster Winchester Wad, a close copy of a WAA12 wad, one of the most common wads recognizable to anyone who has ever loaded Winchester AA hulls.

It is designed for a nominal load of 1 to 1-5/8oz of lead shot. For different loadings, the amount of powder or wad can be changed to make a good match for the internal volume of the shotgun shell you are loading it into. In Black Powder loadings, the WAA12R is a common wad, the buffer section (the part in the middle) is significantly shorter. In the WAA12SL, it is much longer.

The modern 1-piece wad has two functions that makes it so important, first, it compresses the gunpowder against the battery cup, and most importantly, it provides some elasticity to the internal volume of the shell. When the hull is being loaded, the wad will be compressed by some percentage, this has two functions, to tamp down the powder, and to make sure the shell is loaded to the correct over-all length. So finding a good match between your hull, the type of crimp you're using, your wad, shot charge, and powder charge is essential to making a good shell.

Powder Selection

Shotguns are very low pressure guns, where modern rifles may perform constantly at 60,000 PSI the shotgun would burst at those pressures, SAAMI lists a max pressure of 13,000PSI for 12ga shotguns. However, to complicate manners, the powder used in shotshells if not properly compressed with have difficulty reaching full ignition, resulting in a "blooper" as it's often called, based on the noise it makes.

The reason for the ignition problems is because shotgun bores are so large by comparison to their metallic cousins. The diameter of a 12ga barrel is .729" or thereabouts which is .5" greater in diameter than the venerable .30-06. This means that the volume of the 12ga will increase five times faster as the projectile travels down the barrel. So quick burning powders are a must. To keep pressures low, most shotguns use only 3-5 times the amount of powder used by pistols, where rifles may be 10 times (on a weight-weight basis) more powder.

Powders such as Hodgdon Clays, W231, bullseye, IMR700X are choice powders for loading shotgun shells. All of these powders tend to be very bulky, large flake powders, making them easy to ignite, and able to take up the necessary space at the base of the shotgun shell in addition to having relatively fast burn rates.

Hull Selection

The hull selection is quite critical in terms of internal volume, as the length of the hull will change where the crimp goes, however hulls are standard sizes (or very close to it) being at 2-1/2", 2-3/4", 3" and 3-1/2" each of these numbers represent the "open" length of the hull, or the length before crimping. While a 3" loaded round may fit into a 2-3/4" chamber, firing it would be very dangerous as the crimp would open up into the forcing cone of the chamber (think of this like the throat on a rifle) causing pressures to spike.

Hulls come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, constructions, and internal volumes. So while hull selection is a critical factor for maintaining consistent and safe performance for a recipe, hull variation in a single brand/model is almost non-existent.

Primer Selection

I may be a bit cavalier, but in my years of loading shotshell, I have yet to notice many significant differences between shotgun primer types. They all seem to be about the same power, and same dimensions. While I tend to run minimum loads, I have never had problems switching between primer brands. But as a cautionary note, this is considered among the cardinal sins to adherents of the shotshell recipe cult. But it is worth noting that the #209 primer, no matter manufacturer should be exactly the same, as #209 is a primer standard that specifies both the size of the primer, the battery cup but also the amount of priming material and any other ignition characteristics of the primer.

Shot Selection

When it comes to recipe creation, the size of shot, the hole size in the bar that meters the shot, and the type of shot can greatly affect how the load will perform. The primary reason for this, is the smaller (the higher the number) the more densely the individual pellets can stack together in the shell. This is very easy to visualize when you try to stack a few pieces of buckshot into a shell, vs a few spoonfulls of #12.

As a consequence of these density variations, a load of #12 may be the volumetric equivalent of 1oz of #7.5, but may be 50% heavier, which could be a dangerous combination. The reverse is also true, 1oz of #12, could be equivalent to 3/4oz of #7.5, but the lack of inertia may lead to a blooper.

In this way, knowing your components, is a very critical factor when creating a shotgun recipe and tends to be one few people will mess with with any regularity.

As long as I'm on the topic of shot, there is more to load than simple wads full of shot, at least two manufacturers offer molds for casting your own slugs, lee and lyman are the largest, I am sure there are others out there. Lee however takes the most interesting approach. The Lee slug, is equal in length, to the length of a similar weight of #7.5 shot (approximately). Therefore if you are set up to load a 1oz #7.5 load, removing the shot bottle, and instead inserting a slug after the wad has been inserted and precompressed, and before crimping you can load your own shotgun slugs for pennies compared to what they cost at the gun shop.

Shotgun cartridges are much more complex than their metallic counterparts, they have more components and the way they are assembled seems to be a floating quantity. For most people, sticking to the recipe is the safest, that said, at least you now know why.

Load Development (Part 5)

Thanks for sticking with me, this is going to be a monster post, not so much in it's length but in the amount of detail I'm about to get into.

Data Analysis - Making sense of it all

Up to now all of these steps have been like making a pie, all of the ingredients have gone into the bowl, been mixed, rolled, and stuffed with fruit, if the last installment was like tasting the pie, this section is going to be about how we can make that pie better.

So by now you probably have a bunch of shell casings that are all dirty and waiting for their next reload, maybe you have a chronograph with dead batteries, a sunburn and are in dire need of a shower. However, you also have a very valuable piece of paper that contains all of the data you took from the last trip to the range.

Rather than exhaustively going through every single load, lets make a spreadsheet we can put our data into. Personally, I tend to use Microsoft Excel, because that's what's on my computer, and that's what I've been using for years. Not to create a debate about which spreadsheet is best, any of them will work provided it has functions that SUM, AVG, and Standard Deviation.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my old test data from when I developed my .223 69gr load, and a number of the other development projects I've done were done with bulk powders, and are proprietary to some of my former employers. But here is some test data from some .308 Loadings I did some time ago, you're welcome to use these loads, however I assume no liability, or make any assumptions about their usefulness for anything. That said:

Barnes 30842 FC IMR3031 41.5 WLR 2.795
2803 2772 2787 2774 2787

Barnes 30842 FC IMR3031 41.5 Fed215 2.795
2771 2773 2796 2763 2731

Sierra 2200 FC Varget 42.0 WLR 2.750
2481 2515 2469 2491 2501 2500 2484 2490 2491 2503

Hornady 190gr HPBT FC IMR3031 38.5 WLR 2.795
2420 2428 2463 2429 2416 2441 2428 2439 2445 2440

As you can see, each of these loads varied, and I kept track of all the components used, the case, powder, bullet type (by manufacturer number), primer, and the OAL.
That said, lets crunch some numbers:

Avg Velocity Standard Deviation
Load 1 2784.6 12.46
Load 2 2766.8 23.48
Load 3 2491.4 12.96
Load 4 2431.2 13.67

Now for those of you who are not too familiar with statistics, and either didn't read, or didn't care to understand exactly what Standard Deviation is, this means that there is a statistical probability that about 75% of the rounds fired will be within 1 standard deviation of the average velocity in column 2.

Generally, the accuracy of ammunition is not an important factor, this is why firearms have adjustable sights, what is important is consistency, so the more identical one round of ammunition is to the next, the higher the probability of you putting bullet after bullet into the bullseye.

In general again, I am willing to tolerate a maximum SD of 20FPS in any rifle ammunition I am producing either for my handloads, or that I will be producing as a factory loading. Ideally, I like all SDs to be under 10FPS, but this is a very difficult goal with rifle ammunition. The reason it is so difficult is the extreme conditions rifle ammunition operates under, every little change will be magnified exponentially. Also, every round doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be close enough to the last round that no one notices.

So of the loads tested, and the data presented, which loads do you think I decided to keep, and which did I decide to discard?

If you notice, the first two loads are the same charge of powder, same bullet, same case, same everything, just different primer. Interestingly, the winchester primer was both more consistent, and attained a higher muzzle velocity than the federal 215 (large rifle mag) primers.

With this in mind, if you said drop Load 2, you're right! For a number of reasons I don't like Federal primers, usually because they are excessively soft, and thus tend to have problems with consistent seating depth. It seems now there's just another reason I don't have to bother keeping them in stock.

Since I have not really touched on it yet, group size is another one of those important things you need to keep in mind. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any of my old targets from this day of testing, seeing as how it was several years ago, this is not surprising.

So with that in mind, lets talk about what is considered "good" in terms of group size.

Military Standards for small arms ammunition usually specifies a maximum group size with a radius of 2 minutes of angle, (2MOA) which is about a 4" circle at 100 yards, it's worth noting, that in the civilian world, the MOA measurement of a group is a diameter, not a radius. Therefore, a 2MOA radius group is actually a 4MOA group in the civilian world.

For any ammo I consider this an absolute bare minimum accuracy standard, and would consider any experiment that produced results that only met this standard to be a dismal failure. For regular FMJ-BT "blasting" ammo that I use for regular every day shooting, I consider a 2MOA radius to be good enough for production ammunition, 1.5MOA ammo to be good enough to be considered match ammunition, and any ammo that shoots better than this an unbridled success. In general, 1MOA is a tough goal to get to with production ammunition, but it is attainable with handloads. Additionally, a 1MOA envelope the capabilities of the gun start to matter just as much as the ammunition.

Creating consistent ammunition can be quite a chore given all of the choices out there for bullet, powder, primer and case, the magic to getting those numbers where you want them can be quite difficult, but experience in selecting components can help quite a bit.

Load Development (Part 4)

Hopefully everyone is still reading this, as I got busy for a few days and didn't have time to finish up this article (One more post after this one, I promise!). Either way here's another installment.

Gathering Data - Time to hit the range!

So here is the fun, and yet at times tedious part of this processes. Aside from interpreting data (the next section) this is where you're most likely to go wrong, so attention to detail is critically important in this phase.

If you're getting ready to go to the range to test out some new loads, here's a quick checklist:

* The gun
* The ammo
* Calibrated targets or Overlays
* Chronograph (DON'T FORGET SPARE BATTERIES!!!!!)
- All of the other bits and bobs that go to the chrono, make sure you have a tripod to put it on, some sandbags to weigh it down with so it doesn't blow over, wires, spare wires, extra sky screens etc.
* Pad and paper
* Something to write with

If you are on your way to the range and you forgot any of these things, you may as well turn around and go home now, otherwise you will not collect any useful data.

Hopefully you remembered everything, bought it on the way, or were lucky enough to borrow something you forgot when you arrived. So lets go over some basics of equipment set up.

Set up your calibrated targets at a designated range (and the range for which they are calibrated for), now hopefully you have long line-breaks, as you will now need to set up the skyscreen assembly for your chronograph. Having a friend here can help quite a bit.

Place your skyscreens from 5-20' from the bench, 5' is ok for pistols, 20' is better for rifles, otherwise the muzzle blast can disassemble your sky screens just as easily as a bullet strike will. Once you have the distance right, having a friend who can stand behind your bench, directing you to move left-right-up-down, angle up or angle down and line up the skyscreen is definitely worth buying them lunch for showing up. In a pinch, most of the other people at the range will also be happy to help you with this operation, however, sometimes their skill at direction is greatly lacking.

Once you have access to your bench (line's now hot!), you should first fire some known ammo through the chronograph to make sure it's measuring properly. Measurements that are outside the norm, measurements that are missed, or measurements taken when you are not shooting can be an indication of bad placement of the chronograph, or of environmental interference (wind and florescent lights are the two biggest offenders except perhaps for no lights).

After testing your equipment the fun stuff begins. Make notes of which load you are testing, you can number them, or simply write down the details of each cartridge. i.e. Load 1 or 24.3grs varget...

When you fire the first round in a string, be sure to catch the first fired round, inspect the case, look at the primer, and look for signs of high pressure, if any is found you may not want to shoot the rest of the string, or shoot loads of more powder. Keep notes of any signs you see on the cartridge case, whether there are signs of high (even if not excessive pressure), also make notes about the ambient conditions, most cartridges will generate higher pressures with hotter ambient temperatures.

At the end of each fired string, switch to using a different bullseye on the target, and measure group size wither with overlays, or using calibrated targets. Make notes of which loads have a smaller group size.

As I said earlier, load development can be a very time consuming process, and is easier to perform with a test range at hand, this makes gathering data much faster, requires loading fewer rounds, and there is no waiting for line breaks.

By now, you should hopefully have taken some good data. The next article is going to be all about data analysis.

Load Development (Part 3)

This is Part 3 of the Load Development Article, if you were bored before, it is not about to get more exciting, except now it's time to load test cartridges.

Loading Test Cartridges

To most people this is what they've been waiting for, a chance to load up some cartridges and head to the range. Depending on your circumstances and how serious you are about your craft, you could go one better than most people, and take a portable reloading bench with you to the range, working out of the back of your pickup making custom cartridges one by one and testing them out. I don't care if you do this, for me at least I think this approach is actually easier on the mind than many others because if a problem comes up you can deal with it right then and there, rather than having to make another trip.

Now it's time to pick some candidate loads. For statistical purposes I typically shoot 3 rounds to establish velocity, and I shoot 10 rounds to establish an average velocity and calculate a standard deviation. 10 rounds allows me to exclude anything that looks like it may be erroneous data, like a bird flying over one of the sky screens, or round not being measured correctly because the chronograph saw the gas and measured it's velocity.

Refining Specifications and Choosing Test Data

Looking back at the last post, here is the spec I decided I was going to load up:

Caliber: .223 Remington
Powder: Varget, H335
Charge Wt. 24-26, 22-24
OAL: 2.235-2.250"
Velocity: 2850-3000FPS

Looking at the load data from the last post, it seems a minimum load will likely not meet the minimum velocity specifications. The book velocities given for Varget were 2784-3010FPS at 24 and 26 grains respectively, doing some basic math that's roughly 113FPS for each grain of powder, so 25gr should be somewhere about 2897, which is perhaps faster that needed for our minimum loading, so lets split that in half again... 24.5gr is somewhere about 2840FPS, which is just a hair slow, so lets use 24.6gr as our first load. For most charges of this size, I will typically do the next several loadings in .3gr increments, typically .1gr does not offer enough change to really be measurable except in large lots, and .3 is a good baseline. Also, I always subtract .1gr from any max loading to account for variations in powder drop when I'm loading progressively.

For the H335 load, it looks like H335 will not achieve the higher velocity Varget will, using the same process, a starting load of 22.7gr was selected. Follow the same procedure to select the rest of the loadings.

Selecting an OAL

OAL is an important variable in loading ammunition, but for auto-loading rifles is much less critical than most might think. However, I out of habit tend to load long, so lets go with a 2.245" OAL, this will make sure none of the ogive is inside the case mouth, allowing us maximum neck tension on the bullet. Under certain conditions, this can be a very major factor (such as with the very long 75gr AMAX which cannot be loaded to a length which satisfies magazine constraints) maximizing neck tension is a necessity for loading good ammo for an autoloader. Too little can cause bullet setback.

Loading Procedure

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know what the best practices for loading procedures are, but lets constrain things a little further since it's serious this time:

Process your brass (small base size, trim, wash and tumble)
Seat your selected primers, for AR-15 loads I use CCI-400, #41 Arsenal, or Winchester WSR primers exclusively. Seat these using a bench or hand priming tool being sure primers are minimum of .003" inside the case, and no more than .010" below the base of the cartridge.

Assuming this will be a single stage operation, put your shell holder into the ram, insert a case, and raise the ram. Back the seating plug all the way out of the die, now screw in the seating die until you feel the resistance of the die starting to crimp the case, back off at least 1/2 turn but no more than 1-1/2 turns. Lower ram, now put a charged primed case in the shell holder and place a bullet on top of the case. Raise the ram with one hand while guiding the bullet with the other hand, before the ram is at Top Dead Center, insert the seating punch and begin screwing down. Slowly adjust the seating punch by lowering the ram a little, turn the seating screw, and then seating the bullet slightly farther periodically taking measurements until the seating depth is adjusted to that outlined in our specifications.

Now go ahead and charge and load the rest of the cases.

Next Installment... Getting Data at the range!

Load Development (Part 2)

This is the second post in a multi-part series on Load Development. Here is Part 2 Setting Standards.

Setting Standards

If you are asking why set a standard? Well, if you don't set a standard, or a goal, then there isn't much point in going through this whole process of developing a load. No matter what your goal, you should set a standard, and make sure you conform to it. This will make reloading easier and more fun, it will also make shooting more fun and hopefully reduce stress at matches when you could be worried about how your ammo is going to perform.

So what goes into a standard? Well, the first thing you should do is decide what you want the ammunition to do. At the same time you should remember that every decision is a trade off, and the number of decisions you get to make every time you make one shrinks exponentially. If your goal is creating a round that uses the cheapest bullet, cheapest powder, has the lowest charge volume, gives phenomenal accuracy, insanely high muzzle velocity, and has zero recoil that's great. Send me a message when you've achieved this, I've been trying for nearly 20 years and have never even come close.

The first thing you should decide is what the basic requirements are for your cartridge. Let me illustrate this with an example, .223 Remington. A good goal: "I want it to cycle my AR-15 without issue" Sounds easy right? Well this immediately limits you to medium burning powders such as H332, Varget, AA2230, TAC, and eschews fast burning powders like IMR4198, IMR4227 and the like. The next goal should be either your accuracy or muzzle velocity. Most frequently the most accurate loads are not the ones pushing maximum velocity, in fact quite far from it. So this is a fork in the road. Since you clearly want to fire this cartridge out of a semi-automatic rifle, you are bound by a certain max over-all length of the cartridge, in this case 2.260" but it works best when loaded to 2.250" or less.

So lets pick an accuracy load, in my opinion, life is too short to miss, and missing is much more affordable when shooting a .22LR than a high powered rifle.
I also want to shoot at medium to long ranges, so I want a bullet that's heavier and more streamlined than the short FMJ-BT bullets that are so cheap, the Sierra 69gr Match-King is a great bullet, but the 60gr SMK, and 55gr SMKs are also great choices for certain applications, like if I was shooting with a carbine length barrel instead of a rifle length barrel.

So lets browse through the available loads, here are a few from data.hodgdon.com:

69 GR. CFE 223 2.235" 23.5 2788 25.8 3029 54,600 PSI
69 GR. Varget 2.235" 24.0 2784 26.0C 3010 50,200 CUP
69 GR. IMR 4320 2.235" 23.0 2673 24.8 2873 53,100 PSI
69 GR. IMR 4064 2.235" 22.5 2690 24.0C 2872 50,900 PSI

So it seems I can expect a muzzle velocity out of my 20" gun up to around 3000FPS. Now like I said earlier, the fastest load will not always be the most accurate, so 3000FPS is going to be the upper limit of how fast I'm expecting this bullet to go. The next consideration is the minimum velocity I'm willing to tolerate. After doing a little bit of checking, the 69gr SMK has a BC that averages about .305, so using an online ballistic calculator, if I load to a minimum velocity of around 2700FPS, I can expect the bullet to be transonic as the bullet approaches 800 yards, however if I can keep the muzzle velocity to around 2850FPS the bullet will still be marginally supersonic at 800 yards, giving this round an accurate range out to this distance. So now I have an upper and lower bound.

In a home situation, now would be a good time to pick out a powder, usually the starting point for this, is "what do I have?" otherwise it is now time to make a shopping run and go buy some powders. If you have experience and certain favorites for this, by all means use that. One of my personal favorite powders is Varget, which conveniently is shown above. However, for completeness, I like to choose at least one other powder I think may work well, this may be because a different powder is more available, it meters better, or any number of other reasons. A common powder for .223 Rem is H335, I have a lot of it around, so I will add that to the spec.

So now I have created a rough specification for my cartridge:

Caliber: .223 Remington
Powder: Varget, H335
Charge Wt. 24-26, 22-24
OAL: 2.235-2.250"
Velocity: 2850-3000FPS

Now it's time to load some test cartridges, which will be the next installment.

Load Development

Load Dev is probably one of the biggest "black arts" of making ammunition, but once it can be understood as a process, much of the art fades to science. While some of the initial data that goes into load creation is largely due to experience and intuition there are great many ways you can back up a gut feeling with science. I will do my best to tear away the shrouds in this post.

Since this is a very complex topic I'm going to be breaking it up into multiple posts. Here is Part 1: Tools

Tools

When everyone first gets into reloading, they spend a lot of time buying tools, constantly finding they need this gizmo, or that whiz-bang, and in general they will make more than a few runs to the sporting goods store to pick up the next thing they never knew they needed. Having the right tools to understand what ammunition is doing when you fire it is an essential part of load development. So what are the tools?

The primary tools needed for load development are those that measure, whether you're trying to squeeze the most accuracy, the highest muzzle velocity, (or lowest in some cases) having the right tools is an essential part. If you are reading this post, you probably already have one of those essential tools: A computer. Computers are very handy for their ability to quickly and easily make complex calculations on large amounts of data. I highly recommend having a spreadsheet type program, like Microsoft Excel, or OpenOffice's Calc application, both have a similar look and feel.

The next necessary tool is a good chronograph, there are many different ones on the market with all kinds of options, under most circumstances, if you have a pen and paper, you don't need the type with the memory and built in calculators and the like, you just need one of the basic ones that when a shot goes over it, it gives you the velocity in your favorite units (I recommend Feet per Second, as it's a little more granular than M/s but it's all a matter of tolerance in the long run).

You will also need some targets, any kind of targets will do, most people use a calibrated target that will have 1" grid squares on it, or something similar. For certain purposes I have a set of transparencies which have group size circles on them, so I can determine if a particular group is 1 MOA, 2 MOA, etc.

Clearly, you will need a firearm that chambers and fires the particular round you are conducting the experiment for, preferably one with repeatable sights, and reasonable accuracy. (Most modern firearms have excellent accuracy)

Some other measuring tools are usually handy to have too, a set of calipers for measuring OAL and group size. A magnifying glass, a tablet and a pen for writing down numbers, sometimes a scientific calculator is handy too.

Interesting Ammo - 12ga Tracer Ammo

One of the little known facts about being in the gun business is the staggering lack of variety that can sometimes be experienced. In the number of jobs I have performed over the years, nearly all activities can be summed up in about 5-6 different categories, over and over and over again.

For this reason, whenever I get a chance to come across something new, I like to take it apart and learn from it. This time I decided to share this experience with a bit of a photo tour.

Here is the current object of study. It's a somewhat elderly Winchester 12ga Tracer cartridge. While some eschew such novelties as useless fire danger, projectile designs that allow both the firer and observers to view the path the projectile takes, it has great utility in training, in target acquisition, and for diagnosing problems with the firearm.

Shotgun ammunition fills a very interesting niche legally in the United States, as it is greater than .60 caliber, but is exempt from destructive device classification (part of the NFA/GCA 68). An additional complication is occasionally provided by state laws. Under California law, tracer ammunition is banned, however there is a specific exemption for shotgun tracer ammunition under the California Dangerous Weapons Laws:

12301. (a) The term "destructive device," as used in this chapter, shall include any of the following weapons: (1) Any projectile containing any explosive or incendiary material or any other chemical substance, including, but not limited to, that which is commonly known as tracer or incendiary ammunition, except tracer ammunition manufactured for use in shotguns.

I started taking the round apart by the standard method (cutting off the folded portion) and slowly disassembling it. After taking the round apart, I laid out all the components. I used a bit of packing tape to keep the shot from rolling all over the table.

Shown above from left to right, the hull which includes a paper spacer around the powder charge (not shown), the powder charge, a sealing cup, the wad section, the tracer element, the shot cup, and the shot.

The tracer element is ignited by the main powder charge, by way of a hole through the sealing cup and the wad. The wad and tracer assembly is shown in detail here:

The nut underneath the tracer element is just to prop it up and show detail of the vent where the flames will come out. An interesting aspect of this design is the tracer element as a large aluminum ball, should be a close ballistic match to the individual shot pellets. However, obvious problem with this idea is you have a hole in the wad, while this is the only way to ignite the tracer element, it presents an obvious potential problem if the tracer element is blown out of the wad, this could have disastrous effects on the shot pattern.

Here is a photo of the assembled wad and tracer element:

Unfortunately, I only have the one sample, so I won't be able to provide any after-photos of a traced shot column flying through the sky. From the study of this round, and the obvious problems with setting fires, and possibly just not measuring up to the expected performance, make it obvious why this cartridge was never a marketing success. It is also likely this round was significantly more expensive than the other ammunition available at the time. Novel ammunition like this tends to come and go in cycles. I am sure at some point in the future something like this will be available again in the future. If you want some, keep your eyes peeled!

Bullet Seating Woes

Of all the things that simply are far from perfect in the out of the box configuration, one of them is definitely bullet seating punches. Provided you're loading Round-Nose or Flat-Nose bullets, most dies do a pretty good job.

However sometimes, a slightly different Ogive, or some other non-standard configuration makes what should be a straight-forward process a functional nightmare without the right tools. I recently started reloading .40S&W, so I picked up a new set of dies, gathered my materials and got ready to make some new ammo for a shooting trip. As you can see from the picture though, the first few rounds would not pass muster, the problem? Another seating punch that doesn't fit the bullet properly. Instead of carefully centering the bullet in the case mouth, and then supporting both the nose and the ogive as it forces it into the case, this one grabs the bullet by the ogive, cuts into it and then smooshes it in.

This not being my first rodeo (or the first time I've had this issue) I had to make a new punch. So it was over to the lathe, to cut some of the shoulder off the seating punch. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo before I started cutting. But here it shows a profiled tool cutting the shoulder off, so the projectiles will reach the flat part of the punch and seat properly.

Here's what it looked like after profiling:



Now, if you don't have a lathe, or the ability to cut tools, there are a few other tricks you can use to make a custom punch. The easiest ones (provided you are not using a hollow point bullet) is to put a little bit of wax into the punch, this can be done with a common household candle. Then take a bullet and force it into the punch to form the wax to the bullet profile. Put the punch in the freezer for about 20 minutes to solidify the wax, and then rub the wax surface with a little bit of baby powder to prevent the bullet from sticking. Typically this technique will work for a while before problems start to arise (the wax flaking off, or sticking to a bullet), the best way is to make a custom punch.

Another somewhat less fancy way is to put the punch into a hand drill, or drill press, and using a jewelers file to get inside the punch and cut off what you need to.

Cartridges I Hate to Love

Part of the impetus for writing this blog, is I really like bullets. While many are alterations on an idea, within the confines there seems to be nearly endless variety in how cartridges are designed, put together and perform.

That said, there are some cartridges that strike me as complete anachronisms, but through constant improvement have somehow maintained relevance, in some cases to present day. But despite the performance those updates have brought with them, there are still features of each defy what I normally would think of beautiful about cartridges in general. So I thought I would present a list, talk about some of the history and see if you agree with me.

Topping out this list is .303 British. First adopted by the British empire in 1888 for the Lee-Metford it kept the peace serving the British empire from the peak of dominance, through it's sunset. If there was ever a cartridge that in so many ways defied both obsolescence and top marks at a beauty contest this is it. It was first adopted as a black powder cartridge, it's rimmed and has an odd body taper, and it uses a bore diameter shared only with 7.62x54R, 7.62x39, 7.65 Argentine and a select few other cartridges. But this rifle has seen service in peace and in war on every continent on planet earth. If there was a need for guns in space, this cartridge certainly would have gone there at some point.

As I said, this cartridge was first adopted in the Lee Metford in 1888 as a black powder cartridge, however it is better known for the role it played after the Brits dropped the Lee Metford only a few years later in favor of the much updated (and improved) Short Magazine Lee Enfield No.1. This firearm, and the later SMLE No.4 served the empire and commonwealth countries from the time of adoption through two world wars, and was finally dropped in the late 1960's by the British, but is still in service in limited capacity in India. An 80 year active service life for any weapons system is incredible, but more incredible is the changes the .303 Brit round made through this time.

The .303 started as a Black Powder Cartridge, the first small-bore service rifle cartridge, which in the Lee-Metford was fed from a 10 round detachable box magazine that could also be charged with stripper clips. The initial loading (called Mark I) featured a 215gr Round Nose soft point bullet. This was quickly replaced by cordite charges, which while they showed barrel erosion issues, was maintained as the front-line service round as the Mark(s) 3,4 and 5. However it was updated to the Mk 6 after the Hague Convention banned the use of expanding bullets. The Mk 6, served the Empire until WW1, where it was phased out in favor of the Mk VII (7) which used a 174gr Boat Tail Spitzer (Full Metal Jacket) bullet moving about 2200-2400FPS. Some experimentation was done and a Mk 8 was also produced that featured a 175gr Boat Tail Spitzer, however it was intended solely for use in the Vickers Machinegun. The difference between the Mk7 and Mk8 is the bullet of the Mk8 is slightly unbalanced, resulting in a greater spread of bullets against area targets. I found this out the hard way (somewhat) when I was given a large quantity of pulled Mk8 bullets, patterns at 100 yards were about 8".

The Mk7 and Mk8 rounds were standardized before WW2, and remained the standard through the end of service.

While I feel I would be somewhat remiss not to mention the .303 British was also adopted by the japanese during WW2 and was used in direct copies of the Lewis and Vickers machineguns. However, the Japanese never made any changes to either the ammunition or the platforms that used them. So they only receive a footnote here.

I first became aquainted with this cartridge about 5 years ago when I purchased a No4mkIII somewhat accidentally at an auction. Once I realized what I had done, the first thing that stuck in my mind was "Oh great, another rifle I will need to reload for".

The .303 almost universally requires full length sizing of cases to ensure proper headspacing off the cartridge rim. The SMLE, while iconic, has it's locking lugs at the rear of the bolt, and features a cock on close mechanism. To someone who spent many previous years shooting Mausers this is backwards and inferior to the strong locking mechanism present in the Mauser. The additional impression, coming from someone used to shooting the sexy gently tapered rimless cases common in Mauser pattern rifles was negative when faced with a rimmed cartridge.

Despite the initial negative impressions of the rifle, and the ammunition it is a phenomenal rifle and cartridge despite being capable of only modest muzzle velocities around 2200-2300FPS with 150-175gr bullets it is a very fun gun to shoot, the brass butt pad is a little rough on the shoulder but as a rifle of the same generation as my great grandfather, it is every bit as accurate as I am. The cock on close mechanism is makes reloading faster and easier than the heavy extraction/cocking method of the Mauser. And the 10 round magazine capacity definitely contributes to the reasons why the SMLE, and it's ugly cartridge were war winners.

If you ever get a chance, I suggest at least putting a few rounds down range one any of the rifles chambered in .303. It's ugly, but it's a great round and it's service history definitely bears that out.

Sometimes it is my day

Well, I got the new part for the RCBS priming tool about two weeks ago, I've just been too busy to make any posts, also too busy to take pictures of it. But this one is clearly of higher quality than the original. It looks like it's still made of some kind of cast aluminum alloy, but the machining on the bolt holes is clear and crisp, and there are no indications of inclusions, and best of all, it seems like they beefed it up quite a bit. Way to go RCBS.

Sometimes it's just not my day

One of the main reasons why I constantly recommend RCBS tools, is the outstanding warranty service they provide. They warranty everything! Including decapping pins, try calling Dillon on his "No BS" warranty and ask them for new decapping pins.

However, one trend I've been noticing more and more with RCBS, is poor build quality on some of their reloading tools. Today was a notable example:

This was after seating about 20 primers into .50BMG casings, that already had reamed primer pockets, and had been chamfered. I was using CCI #35 primers, which are notoriously horrible to seat, and even with the reaming and chamfering, this was no exception. However, I didn't expect my brand new RCBS primer seating tool to crack in half like a lee reloader press trying to reload .308 military casings.

On the upside, and again, why I always recommend RCBS first, I dropped the frame in the mail today after calling RCBS, and they said ship it to them, and I would get a replacement. This is one of those circumstances where I really wish I didn't have to call them about a replacement. Sometimes doing things right the first time is the best way to go, with more and more of RCBS's products being outsourced to China, I am not sure how much longer I will continue to recommend them as the best starting place for most reloaders.

Reloading - Where to Start

So I realized tonight that I don't listen to myself enough. Rather than getting deep in the weeds on that, let me instead tell you what I wasn't listening to myself about: Which reloading press a newbie should start off with.

I suppose I could be a bit biographical regarding this topic. I started reloading when I was 12. After a long summer of working as a bus boy at my aunt's diner, I had saved up quite a bit of cash, and I had but one thing on my list of things I wanted, an AR-15. Well, after spending some of my hard earned money and $600 later, I now had the gun I had wanted since about age 9. (I should probably point out, my dad took my money, purchased the gun, and kept it locked up except when we were going to the range. I didn't really come from a family of shooters, and except for a little .22 I inherited from my grandfather we had no other guns in the house previous to this.)

I was now beset with a new problem, a gun I couldn't really afford the ammo for it. So with the suggestion of my shooting coach (I belonged to a Jr Marksmanship Program at the time) I got into reloading. I ordered the cheapest press I could find, a lee reloader (It was about $12 at the time) and RCBS was selling a low cost die set for $17, I then purchased some bullets, some primers, some powder (again, my dad made the purchases, and kept it locked up unless he was supervising me) a priming tool, and I was off to the races. It took me a while to really learn what I was doing, first, due to lousy powder selection I bought a powder that was too fast to reliably cycle my beloved AR, and had a number of other issues. Eventually, I learned a lot, came up with some very good and accurate loads and won many service rifle competitions through my teen years with that gun.

In that time, my reloading kit grew and grew, equipment got replaced with better and more expensive, higher quality, and faster to use tools. So to circle back, where should the newbie start?

Honestly, reloading is a fun and rewarding hobby, but it's one best reserved for those with lots of patience, and those that take pride in working with their hands. Initially, the thoughts of getting into reloading only to save money will quickly lead to impatience, poorly reloaded ammo. At the worst this hobby can just cause you to shoot worse and suck all your money out of the bank, at worst it could severely injure or maim you for life.

So where to start? Because this hobby is about working with your hands, start slow. The Lee Reloader press I started out with back in the early 90's still costs less than $30, and will easily reload most pistol and medium rifle cases (for those looking to do .308 or bigger rounds, I HIGHLY recommend the RCBS Partner press, as the Lee Reloader press will rather quickly snap in two, as mine did). Now the dies, if there is anything that is important to producing good quality ammo, it's the dies, I recommend splurging on this. Lee is crap, RCBS is good, Redding is better. You will also need a shellholder, Lee sells a set of 12 shell holders for $20, buy that, it will fit most calibers you're likely to load. Buy some kind of press mounted priming tool, Lee sells the ram prime which is good, be sure to start slow and only load one primer at a time until you know what you're doing, a chain detonation could severely injure you. And now the two most important tools, buy a HIGH QUALITY scale, I recommend people start with a balance beam, as it doesn't need to be recalibrated constantly, and batteries don't die. And a set of dial calipers. The last thing you will need is a reloading manual, read it over and over several times before you start. If you're not sure what you're doing ask someone with some experience. Ask me, ask someone on a forum. When it comes to doing dangerous things forewarned is forearmed.

Add some shell casings, bullets, primers and powder and you're ready to reload. There are some other things you'll need, like case lube (for rifle cases), maybe a case tumbler a case trimmer. But above covers the basics.

After a few years, and a few thousand rounds, you may think about stepping up to a progressive press. I highly recommend the Hornady LNL to the exclusion of Dillon 550/650's.

Case Processing - Made (sorta) Easy

Case processing is the foundation of all reloading. Whether you do it one at a time, or all at once, this is where both accuracy and safety start. First, a little review.

Cleaning brass can be broken down into a few different types generally, washing and tumbling are the two main ways. Since I've already touched on the nuances of how to clean, lets talk about when to clean.

When I get some fired brass, before I can turn it into ammunition, I have to process it. Processing involves a few different steps, which vary depending on type and caliber. Regardless of what it is, the first step I always take is washing the brass. The main reason for this, is dirty brass is full of dirt (yea, a little tautological) which will translate into dirt in my reloading machine, which means either cleaning the machine, or making crappy ammo. Since crappy ammo is not an option, either clean the brass, or clean the machine. Cleaning the machine is a pain, so I clean the brass. Typically, I do this by washing the brass. As it removes dirt and oils, but doesn't require the time of tumbling.

After the brass has been washed, if it's rifle brass I lube it up usually using lanolin spray lube. There are many varieties, Dillon sells the most common version, but you can make it at home (more on that later). Since I mostly use progressive presses, I will set the head up usually in the following order:

* Decapping die
* Sizing die (small base)
* Expanding die
* Trim Die (Dillon RT1200 case trimmer)

The reason I separate out the steps this way, is many progressive presses (the Dillon 1050 especially) have very little mechanical advantage except near the bottom of the stroke. So the typical expander configuration will make for very jerky handling which will slow you down. Frequently I will use a full length sizing die for my decapping die, and have it backed off a bit so it doesn't engage the case. This helps center the case and reduces crushed cases.

For pistol case processing, this is substantially simpler. Size and decap all the brass with a carbide sizing die. For brass that's cleaner, I will skip the initial washing step, for dirty brass, it gets washed.

So now you have sized and decapped brass. Time for cleaning again! Wash it (especially the rifle brass to remove case lube) and dry. Followed by tumbling (if you wet tumble, be sure to dry it).

After this, your reloading should be just like running new brass through your machine. If you are running a progressive, this will greatly improve reliability of the machine and through put. One of the chief benefits to processing brass this way, is a higher quality product when done. You don't have to tumble live ammo trying to get lube off the brass (this always makes things dirtier), in most cases brass processed this way will look as good as new ammo if you do it right.

MuzzleBrake Range Report (sorta)

Well, I didn't get to spend a whole bunch of time out on the range today like I had hoped, as I ended up getting bogged down at work. However, I did get a chance to take it back on the proof range at work and fire a few rounds. I started by test firing some subsonic .308 ammo to make sure there were no catastrophic clearance issues, and if there were, I figured this wouldn't break anything too bad.

Well, thankfully, no clearance issues were found (I fired a single round, then inspected for flecks of copper and didn't find any). and fired a few rounds, the recoil reduction was substantial, however one thing I noticed shooting in the confines of the test range, was a rather strong puff of air that would blow from the muzzle end maybe 1/4 second after firing. I think much of this was due to the small indoor range, I've fired much bigger guns with much larger brakes but all those were open air.

The brake did exactly what I wanted it to, held the gun on target and reduced the "bounce" I normally got when firing it off a bipod.

Here's another picture of the brake up close before firing:

Fun Stuff - MuzzleBrake

Felt the need to get away from the computer, get out in the shop and make something really quick that would be fun and enjoyable. So I made a muzzle brake for my .308 Winchester rifle (Savage 10FP-LE). I had the barrel threaded last year as a gunsmith friend of mine needed some cash, so rather than just loan him money he would have to pay back, I just gave him some work.

I am not a great photographer. But here it is:

Specs: Fits 5/8-24TPI threaded barrel, drilled 1" deep, threads relieved on the back (no crush washer or spacers), two baffles for directing gas away from bullet flight. Made of 304 Free Machining Stainless Steel. The bullet path hole is 5/16", was first drilled one size smaller, and then finish reamed with a .3125" reamer with the back gear engaged and lots of oil. Threaded section was first bored with a carbide boring bar, and then tapped with a 5/8-24" tap so there should be no disparity of alignment between the threads and the bore.

If anyone is interested in drawings wanting to make their own, speak up and I'll post them or e-mail.

I should get a chance to take it out to the range tomorrow, and I'll provide a range report.

Japanese Nuclear Reactors, Potassium Iodide and Radiation Safety

As a lifelong student of all things radioactive, a Disaster Emergency Services Worker, someone who has been trained in dealing with radiological emergencies (IS-00301, IS-00003) the paranoia and panic caused by the releases of radioactive materials from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant after last Friday's earthquake, is frankly more alarming than the release of radioactive material.

Spawned by media attention, the response by the American public to stockpile Potassium Iodide tablets thinking this will be a panacea against radioactive contamination will be a comedy of failures. Due largely to the ignorance spread by the media in response to this disaster.

While I won't say radiation is not dangerous, excessive doses of iodine rich compounds can also be dangerous to health. The biggest issue arises from a false belief that Potassium Iodide will protect the whole body against radiation. What KI (chemical symbol for potassium (K) iodide (I for iodine)) does is saturate the thyroid gland with stable isotopes of Iodine, preventing the uptake of Iodine-131, a short lived radioisotope with a half life of about 8 days.

Iodine-131 is dangerous because it undergoes Beta Decay giving off an electron, when it does this inside the tissue (of the Thyroid) it may cause mutation, cancer, or cell death. Since the thyroid is so essential to managing the body's systems, damage to this gland may be catastrophic to the body.

However, since the devil is usually in the details. Here's the rub with KI, Japan, it will be a several day journey for any radioactive contaminants released at Fukushima to reach even the west coast. That delay will give many of them a chance to partially decay, greatly reducing the quantity of radioactive materials which reach the west coast. Also, most of these materials are heavy, meaning they will drop out of the air column sooner than other materials, and they are all readily absorbed in sea water, where they will be greatly diluted.

The next issue, Iodine-131 is not the only dangerous component of a nuclear release. There is also Cesium, Strontium, Barium, Xenon and other materials which are substantially more dangerous than Iodine. Strontium, Barium, and Cesium are readily taken in by plants, and animals and incorporated into bone and other tissues, as an analog for Calcium or Potassium (in the case of Cesium). All of these are longer lived isotopes, and many have higher energy decay processes including alpha and gamma, which can be much more deleterious to human health.

A general rule taken from Civil Defense, is that for every 7 fold increase in time, a 10 fold decrease in radiation will be measured. So when you measure 50Rad/hr (100 Rad = 1 Sievert Sv = 1 Gray), 7 hours later only 5 R/hr should be the measurement. With a given travel time of 2 days, or 48 hours, the amount of radiation arriving will be 10^-7 or 1/10,000,000th the amount of radiation. Some US experts have suggested longer travel times, insisting radiation will be more on the order of 1/1,000,000,000 (one billionth). So even a release of compounds at the plant exceeding 500Rad/hr by the time they arrive on the west coast, the amount of radiation you may receive will be 5x10^-7, or less radiation than you get having a smoke detector in your house. It is important to understand radiation is all around us, a site with good information on this is the EPA's Radiation Dose Calculator.

If you are still scared, radiation monitoring is thankfully an exact science, it is very easy to measure the quantity of radiation in a given sample of material, in fact it is easier to find radioactive contamination than it is to find any type of toxic contamination, as radioactive isotopes give off particles which common Geiger Counters, Scintillators and other simple equipment can detect. Additionally, Japan and the Fukushima plant is a great distance from the continental united states, and while the jet stream is more likely to carry contamination here, it will take days, days in which short-lived radioisotopes will decay off, and become much less dangerous. Additionally, keeping a high level of hygiene will aid greatly in removing any radioactive particles from the skin, clothing and hair. Wash your hands frequently, wash fresh produce, avoid foods that concentrate radioisotopes, and given time there is nothing to fear.

Education is the most important issue when dealing with radiation there are three main defenses against radiation: Time, Distance and Shielding. Here in the on the West Coast, we have distance, and time on our side. Until we see that those are insufficient there is no need to run out and seek shielding, which our houses are quite capable of providing us with.

If you are really looking for something to stockpile right now, don't stockpile KI, stockpile food, water, medical supplies (bandaids, antisceptics). The next disaster we face probably won't be nuclear fallout from Japan, it will probably be an earthquake on our own shores that gets us.

End Daylight Savings!

So I'm not normally politically active, aware yes, active... eh I vote? does that matter?

Anyways, after 30 years, I am officially pissed off enough about the time change to do something about it! And because we live in a representative democracy, I fully intend to do something about it, and frankly, it is a bi-partisan issue.

I will be calling, and writing my senators, and other elected representatives every day until I get this changed and I invite all of you to do the same.

To start you off with some boiler plate. Here's the letter I sent to my senators this morning.
Good Morning Senator,

I am writing you today to express my frustration with a policy that was originally implemented during wartime, that kills untold numbers of Americans, and greatly threatens the health and safety of the rest. I am talking about the change from standard time to daylight time.

Every year numerous people are killed or injured in traffic accidents caused by drowsy drivers after the time change. Farmers and farm animals are upset by the change in routine, not to mention untold millions of other Americans who are forced to be awake earlier, causing undue stress in their home and work lives.

It behooves you as the champion of public safety you purport to be to end this menacing practice. Whether DST becomes the permanent time or not, it does not matter. The only factor that matters is that from now, till forever the only time I am forced to change my clock is when I find myself in a different timezone on purpose!

End this practice now!

Sincerely,

Your Constituent

I added this to my addresses to my state reps:
Daylight Saving Time, as is well known, is a federal statute requiring people to set their clocks one hour ahead between the first Saturday in April and the last Saturday in October. Under Federal law, any state may by law elect to exempt either the whole state, or all of the area within that state that lies within any one time zone, from Daylight Saving Time.
Some important information about DST, and some more ammunition you may be able to use:

Unhappy Hour
Daylight Saving Time: A bad idea.

Sleep Deficit, Fatal Accidents, and the Spring Shift to Daylight Savings Time